Reining in his impulses had cost him, though. He’d been up most of the night, restless and edgy, and thinking way too much about her possible decision to give up her baby. When she’d first mentioned it in a casual way, he hadn’t really taken in all the implications. Now he was forced to. Lou was right about one thing. It had the potential to rip his heart out.
A few months ago, he’d never have considered taking such a risk, but this was Gabi. Did he want to throw away what might be his one chance with her because of something she might never decide to do? Though the glib answer was no, he understood that he needed to give the question more thought and face the very real possibility that he’d once again wind up with a broken heart. Not today, though. Today he just wanted to get another glimpse of Gabi.
Since the lack of sleep had left him in desperate need of caffeine, he’d picked up two large containers of coffee this morning along with a box of homemade, still-warm doughnuts from a local doughnut shop, one of the most popular destinations in Sand Castle Bay.
He drove over to Cora Jane’s, parked his truck on the street even though Cora Jane had long since left to open the restaurant, then walked around back. He knew instinctively he’d find Gabi out there, making yet another attempt to organize her life and get it back on track.
Sure enough, he found her with a yellow legal pad on her lap, sitting in a weathered Adirondack chair in a patch of sunlight. Her face was turned up to the sun, her eyes closed. She glanced up when he took the pad from her lap. She tried to snatch it back, but he moved out of reach, checking out the page.
“Nothing?” he said quizzically. “I thought you’d have a huge master plan for your life outlined by now. It is nearly eight in the morning, after all.”
She scowled at him. “I thought so, too,” she said with unmistakable frustration.
“Maybe it’s too soon,” he suggested yet again. “Maybe you need to let your mind settle down, instead of trying to force things. My best ideas always come to me when I’m not really thinking about work.”
“I know you’re right, but sitting around and waiting for some muse to strike isn’t my way. And seeing everything your sister has accomplished, despite all the commotion in her life, just made me more determined to figure this out and get going.”
“I understand that you’re highly motivated, but your way obviously isn’t working,” he said, then waved the box of doughnuts under her nose to provide an immediate distraction.
Her eyes widened with delight. “They’re still warm?”
“Of course.”
“Any with chocolate icing and sprinkles?”
He grinned at her eagerness as she grabbed the box from him, then drew in a deep breath, taking in the scent of sugar and chocolate and warm, old-fashioned cake doughnuts.
“I can’t remember the last time I had one of these,” she murmured as she reverently lifted one from the box. Her expression turned ecstatic as she took the first bite.
Wade got a little turned on watching her. His mind drifted to all the other, far more intimate ways he might give her pleasure and earn that look. She finally caught him staring.
“Oh, did you want one?” she asked, her expression all innocence.
“Glazed, please,” he said, because it was safer than mentioning what he really wanted.
Using a napkin to pick it up, she handed him one of the glazed doughnuts, then plucked a second one from the box.
“For the baby,” she told him.
He grinned. “Of course it is.”
She gestured toward the two containers he’d set on the table between them. “Is one of those decaf?”
He nodded, checked the marks the clerk had made and handed the decaf to her. “Here you go.”
“You’re turning out to be quite handy to have around,” she noted as she blissfully sipped at the coffee.
“Glad to be of service. Now tell me what’s on your agenda for the day.”
“Getting my life together,” she said at once, snatching the legal pad back.
“A little ambitious,” he countered. “How about coming with me instead?”
“Don’t you need to work today?”
“I can spare a little time for a worthy cause,” he assured her.
“Where would we go?”
“I want to show you something.”
She frowned at his deliberate evasions. “No clues?”
“Not a one. You’ll have to trust me.”
The fact that she didn’t even hesitate before agreeing gave him hope.
“Okay, then, let’s go,” she said, though she cast a disappointed look at the remaining doughnuts.
“Bring them along,” he said. “In case you get hungry. Lou was always starving. It comes with the territory.”
She slid a glance at him. “You’ll make a great husband someday, thanks to all these little tidbits of information you’ve picked up from your sister.”
“She might have been an annoying pest, but she definitely had her uses,” he agreed. “And give me a little credit. I was smart enough to pay attention and take mental notes.” He sobered for a moment. “And I did have a trial run, albeit a brief one.”
She looked startled by the oblique mention of his marriage, but gave the subject a wide berth. “I wonder why more guys don’t do that?” Gabi murmured, her expression thoughtful. “Pay closer attention to what women need, I mean.”
“I suspect they don’t have any idea of the rewards that could come their way. For instance, having a beautiful woman look at them the way you looked at me when I handed over those doughnuts.”
“How’d I look at you?”
“As if I had a lot more going for me than I did a couple of days ago,” he said.
“Seriously? You think I can be won over by doughnuts?”
“Sweetheart, I’m hoping you can be won over by someone taking the time to treat you the way you should be treated. Doughnuts are just the beginning.”
He worried that his candor might alarm her, but instead she looked amused, and maybe just
